We must Fear Of God. Here, fear means to honor the Lord, obedient to him, and love him. When a little child fears his father it means he is obedient to his father and he respects his father by fearing him. Fearing God does not mean that we should run away from him or keep ourselves hidden from his presence. We should not fear God because his appearance does not frighten us. But he said
” You drew near on the day I called on You, And said, “Do not fear!” (Lamentations 3:57)
Here fearing the Lord means surrendering himself before the Lord and remembering that the Lord is above us and he is in control of our lives. He will protect us from every difficulty and help us to win the battle. If we fear him and obey all his commandments then he will never forsake us.
The Lord called Moses to lead the Israel while they were in Egypt.
The Lord foretold Abraham that his descendants will be in a foreign land for four hundred years and they will be treated there as slaves. When the Israelites cried out to the Lord then the Lord remembered them and sent Moses to bring them out from Egypt. And Moses played a vital role to take them out from the presence of the Pharaoh of Egypt.
But when Moses was old enough, he could not lead them anymore.
He told Israel to be brave as the Lord himself will lead them. But they should not fear people because the Lord is mighty. The Lord promised them that his guidance and protection will always be with them.
Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)
Apart from this, fearing the Lord means depending on the Lord and not relying on our own understanding. Many times we do not make our mind to take the right decision because our enemy, the devil, confuses us and leads us in the wrong directions. That is why the Bible says
Then you will understand the fear of God, And find the knowledge of God. (Proverbs 3:5)
The Fear of God is the beginning of wisdom
We will obtain wisdom by fearing the Lord. If we do not have fear in the Lord then we will not get any knowledge. The Bible (Psalms 111:20) and (Proverbs 1:7) says that when we fear God then we will be able to get knowledge. When we look at the world we can see that the moment a little child obeys his father’s ways and listens to his advice and obeys them sincerely then his father gives him advice for his future.
If he was not his father’s obedient son and does not fear his father then his father’s advice will be meaningless to him. As he would destroy himself by the worldly lifestyle. If a worldly father can give the best advice to his son, then our God is our spirit whom we should respect more as he deserves that. The Bible says
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. (Jeremiah 29:11)
The Lord has the best plans for each of us for our future. Many times we think too much about our future and we can’t do anything by thinking. But the Lord gave us a beautiful message that he thinks for us and he cares for us.
If we depend upon him and cast out all our sorrows upon him then he will help us to walk on this earth as it is not our home. We have to follow him though we may not understand what’s going on.
The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom when we will follow him and we will obey all of his teachings faithfully. Then we will gain wisdom that we cannot get from the world. We will get the power to live on this earth. We cannot obtain wisdom from the world. It comes from the Lord. If we look at King Solomon we can find that also received wisdom from the Lord while he surrendered himself before the Lord. We will fear the Lord and give importance to him and finally, we will get to know the plan of the Lord that he had in his mind.
Fear of God will Give us Eternal life
Another benefit that we can achieve from the Lord is eternal life and this should be our aim too. If we fear the Lord then we can gain eternal life. Because “honoring God by fear means turning from a sinful life, and becoming like God by hating sin and lie”(Proverbs 8:13).
This sin is the key factor that stops us from entering heaven .
If one can hate sin and receive Jesus by faith then he can inherit the kingdom of God.
It would be possible only when one will fear the Lord. Then the Lord will speak in his heart and he will understand about the sin. And he will be saved from the power of sin but the unrighteous will remain in the sin. They do not know that they are committing sin regularly that keeps them away from everlasting life.
But we the righteous can get eternal life by fearing the Lord. Because the Bible says us not to fear people of this world but to fear only God. The world can destroy our physical body but they can’t destroy our spirit. Only God can destroy our body and spirit (Matthew 10:28).
The fear of God leads us towards the eternal life by which we can be pleased (Proverbs 19:23).
In (Revelation 21:4) we can see that there will be no sorrow, pain, suffering and everyone will enjoy heaven. So, we can understand that if we satisfy the Lord then we will inherit the kingdom of God.
We have to prepare ourselves to reach God’s Kingdom. We need to confined ourselves in the scriptures and it will lead us into our eternal destiny.
Every Christian should have fear upon the Lord so that they can walk in God’s guidance and protection.
Overcoming the World by fearing the Lord
We can overcome the world by fearing the Lord. If we do not fear him then we cannot win this world. When we will obey and walk in his ways then the Lord himself will help us to overcome all types of hardships in our life. When the Lord will be with us the world cannot harm us.
What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 8:31)
If we look at (Isaiah 42:10) then we can find that the Lord promised us that he will always be with us. He will guide us and he told us not to fear and he will deliver us from evil and he will strengthen us and never leave us. If we see (Psalms 34:4) then we can see that king David always talked to the Lord even the good and evil and the Lord always answered him. He was blessed by the Lord.
The world will always keep you in fear as the ruler of this world is always walking around you to destroy(1Peter 5:8).
The Bible says that the one who relies upon the Lord will be saved and protected as the Lord will hold him and save him from all sudden dangers. (Proverbs 29:25, Joshua 2:9Psalms 56:3-4, 118:6).
If we look at (1 Peter 3:14),we see that Peter told us that if we need to suffer in the path of righteousness then we should do that . Because we will get the reward for enduring the suffering. We should not fear the sufferings and persecutions of this world.
Paul once was well known for being a persecutor of Christians. He was a law teacher in his time and he used to persecute Christians. But one day while he met Jesus on the way to Damascus he realized that Jesus is the Lord.
After realizing the truth he went out to preach the gospel to the whole world. He gave up every world wealth behind him and tried to establish the church. He said all the things I can give up because of Christ as he changed my life by his wisdom so I can consider them as rubbish. He also said that he was seeking to resurrect Christ to inherit the kingdom of God.
The benefits of Fearing God
We have seen the benefits of fearing God earlier. We became the obedient son, we got wisdom, we received eternal life too, and we defeated the world by fearing God. Now we will see some other gifts of fearing God which will help us to change our hearts inwardly.
In (1 John 3:6) we see that the word of God says to us- if anyone dwells in the scriptures, then he commits no sin. And the one who commits sin has not seen him. By this, we can understand that if we live in God then God will help us to stay away from evil deeds. The fear of God brings peace and happiness to our lives. When we will honor God in fear and pray to Him then God will take all our problems and worries.
Moreover, he will think for us. When a child of God faces trials in life and the Lord knows all these and he cares for him by providing the ways to get out of them. The Lord loves us so much that is why he does not allow us to think of anything(Phillipians 4:7, Psalms 112:2, 1 Peter 5:6-7).
Jesus says to us that
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. (John 14:27).
The fear of God will help us to understand his scriptures by which we will be able to know his ways. Without the Bible, we cannot know the Lord. The Lord revealed himself in his scriptures and we will be blessed by reading his words. All the scriptures are given by the inspiration of God.
It is good for every believer to meditate on the words of God so that we can overcome evil by his scriptures.
